Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is visiting community health centers across the state this week to announce an agreement with the Missouri Hospital Association to provide healthcare to nearly 35,000 additional parents – at no increased cost to the state's taxpayers.
Under an agreement spearheaded by Nixon, the MHA will contribute an additional $52.5 million a year to provide healthcare to parents in Missouri. This money will come from the funds Missouri hospitals currently receive for providing uncompensated care to uninsured patients.
This investment by the MHA would allow the state to draw down about $93 million in additional healthcare matching funds from the federal government. Together, these funds would provide coverage for an additional 34,800 parents in Missouri.
Currently, Missouri parents must make less than about 20 percent of the federal poverty level to be eligible for coverage under the state program. To take advantage of this opportunity, the Missouri General Assembly would need to increase the eligibility threshold to 50 percent of the federal poverty level in the Fiscal Year 2010 budget. This is the only legislative action required to provide healthcare to these parents under this agreement because no taxpayer general revenue dollars are needed.
"Ensuring that our workforce has access to quality, affordable healthcare is vital for turning our economy in the right direction," Nixon said. "To provide for their children, parents must be healthy enough to get to work and perform on the job. But today, too many parents are going without the medical care they need, or they're turning to emergency rooms instead of a traditional doctor's office. As a result, families with health insurance are picking up this tab with higher premiums and co-pays.”
"Too many Missourians don't have access to the healthcare they need, and those who do have coverage are paying too much for it," said Marc Smith, president of the Missouri Hospital Association. By using the funds our hospitals receive for uncompensated care to provide coverage for more parents, we'll help more Missourians access primary care physicians, decrease wait times in our emergency rooms and move our economy in the right direction.”
Prior to the 2005 healthcare cuts, Missouri families were paying between $110 and $291 more a year in premiums because of the cost of providing care for the uninsured. It is estimated that in 2010, Missourians will be paying an additional $225 to $609 a year to provide care to the uninsured.
"The link between healthcare and economic development is clear," said Timothy McBride, a healthcare economist, professor and associate dean for public health at Washington University in St. Louis. "Our economy is struggling, but this proposal will enhance economic growth, create or retain hundreds of jobs and drive down the cost of medical care for all Missourians.”